2018-04-22 Testing...testing
Linda has learned a lot of patience since she was younger. She has needed it as the blue-furred mutant called Dr. McCoy (does not look a thing like the one on Star Trek) has performed his tests. Some are pretty basic and painless...like running on special treadmill to determining her speed. Pushing against a special pressure place to detemine how strong she is. Others are more difficult, like letting him take samples of blood and spinal fluid (that hurt, since pain killers do not work on her). He uses a lot of big words as he talks to himself about what he is discovering. Jean Grey is coming in to watch, "So, Hank, what exactly do you need us to put a giant colander on her head for? Have you been watching Ghostbusters again? I thought we agreed that there was going to be a quota after the toaster incident." Hank replies patiently, "It is a neural activity monitor, I am using it to map the activity of the nerves in her brain to determine how the psychokinetic energies she uses are similar to your own. It would probably work best if you do the same test in synchronization with her, so that I can determine if your powers function using the same brain areas." Jean Grey just looks over at Hank with a great deal of dubiousness, "Just remember if we have an incident like the last tie we are revoking your Twinkee privileges." Jean is henceforth wary due to Hank's reputation. "All right, go ahead." she takes a breath. "Linda, do what I do." Hank gives Jean a copy of the same device he was adjusting on Linda's head and says, "We will start with basic lifting, to see how large an object you can lift, how many objects you can lift, how fast you can move them, at what distance you can move them. how finely you can manipulate them, and such. Begin with the smallest weight on the set directly in front of you." Linda looks at the weight bench and picks up a weight marked 3 pounds, which is the smallest she sees. Jean Grey nods, "Linda, just focus on it with your mind. This is just to showcase what you can do. Fine control isn't necessary, just pick and lift." She offers and gives a nod. "The hardest training I ever had to do wasn't lifting things, but tying knots." Linda chuckles, "I can see why that would be, at least part of whatever you are tying a knot in HAS to be out of sight. If your powers are like mine, you have a hard time manipulating what you can not see." Linda moves up the weight scale as fast as Hank tells her to move up. She is soon adding additional weights to a barbell with over 800 pounds on it and wondering where to find more. Jean Grey nods, "That was what I did day in and day out when I first got here. Had to learn not only lifting things but fine control. Fine control is a lot harder." Jean demonstrate while she works with Linda by looping up some string in the air. Pixie hears that some training is going on. She comes on down. All suited up. Hank chides, "Doctor Grey, the fine control tests are later, you will mess up my energy reciprocation readings." He gestures to a tray holding such things as fine threads and needles of various sizes. It is sitting on a table beside glasses of liquid, stacked cups, and even keyboards. Linda asks, "I seem to have run out of things to lift, unless I start lifting from the stack Jean is using?" Hank responds, "No, we will use the resistance sensor that you used to test your strength. Put down the weights and focus on the pressure plate. When the light turns green, focus on the pressure plate and apply your normal maximum force. We are not seeing how far you can push, so do not strain, just do what you are comfortable with please." Jean Grey nods, "We're just getting an idea of how your powers work. So, just relax. We're not wanting to push you, we're just wanting to see how they do and what we can pickup from our equipment with baseline." Jean nods to Pixie, "Hello Megan, we're testing Linda here." She grins, "If you would like Linda, you can try and make Megan float some. I'm sure it would be different for her." Pixie floats on in, and waves to everyone. Seeing the group. "Testing. Wow." Hearing what Jean says, she drops her feet to the ground, and raises her arms. "Oh you can do that? Go ahead." Hank agrees, "Finding out how much differently the powers respond to an organic, living, being is a reasonable test. Proceed with that after the weight limit assessment." Linda follows instructions, first lifting the pressure plate, then picking up Pixie and moving the winged girl around. Jean Grey just looks over at Hank,"Do I want to know -how- exactly you're so familiar with squishing things Henry McCoy or is that more than I want to know where the experience is from?" She watches at Linda, "AND please don't do several hundred tons, our equipment isn't that good.." Pixie giggles as she's well, lifted into the air. "Oh god." Gabby pokes around. It's what she does when she's bored and looking for inspiration. In this case she was looking for something... she wasn't sure what... a tool of some kind. She holds a tinfoil ball in hand that's rather dense and tight, and tosses it idly as she comes in only to pause and blink at the floating going on. "Woah. Cool." Hank checks his readings, "It seems that, in direct force application, Miss Danvers is not as powerful as Dr. Grey. Miss Danvers has a limit of a bit less than seven thousand pounds. There does not seem to be a significant difference when lifting Megan as compared to lifting the same mass of lead. You may put the child down now and start the manipulation tests. These are to determine how many objects you can manipulate, how finely you can manipulate objects, and such. We will start with the computer keyboard. Please lift it off the table. While holding it up so you can see the face, locate the letter F and depress it." Hank knows many telekinetics would fail this test, some can only manipulate the whole object. Linda does not have trouble with it...or threading a needle with any thread as long as she can see both the needle and the hole. She can easily handle moving at least thirty objects each with a different manipulation...more if they are being manipulated as a group. It's not very often that Remy can be found in the lab. It's a place he avoids like the plague to be perfectly honest. How many times has Hank had to drag him down here by his ear to get treated for injuries? Too many to properly count, that's how many. So pigs must be flying outside today! Remy comes pushing through the door of his own accord and butt first - because his hands are full. He's doing a balancing act with about six boxes of varying sizes. One is marked 'fragile'; it's probably glass beakers and the like. One is clearly a new centrifuge judging by the pictures on the box. One is actually marked 'biohazard', don't ask, might not like the answer and one has a giant HOSTESS logo on all four sides. Doesn't take a genius to figure out that one. "Hank, all dis stuff was in da front hall. Whoever signed fo' it jus' left it dere," he complains as he steps through the door. Jean Grey gives a nod to Hank, "All right. So, Linda, when you're working over at this how hard is it for you to apply pressure and focus as opposed to just pushing? Generally telekinetics have different strengths. There's often a line between power and finesse. Some can pick up big weights but can't move small things, some can do very fine manipulation but not a lot of mass." she offers and turns. "Hey there Remy, how are you doing?" She offers cheerfully. "This is Linda, she's staying with us for a bit so she can be Hank's guinea pig." Pixie is apparently put down by Linda after a time, she then laughs again, and waves to the other arrivals. Gabby snaps her head around when a butt comes in behind her. Well a person is attached, naturally, but at her height and his that's about the first thing she sees the way he's coming in the door. Thinking quickly she ducks to the side and stretches one arm out to try and hold the door open for him so not as much pressure is pushing against those boxes he's holding. It leaves her pressed up against the wall to avoid being in the way as he comes through so she's given a nice view of all the boxes he's carrying which she looks over curiously. Behind the stack of boxes and Remy her voice pipes up in confusion, "What's a Twinkie?" Linda stops her test for a moment and telekinetically lifts the boxes from Remy, floating them gently through the air. She puts the ones that she can figure out where they seem to belong and lets hank take the rest. She Then answers Jean, "The easiest thing to do is fly. I can amp my physical abilities to twice normal almost effortlessly. After that, I think I do best with my mind blast. The Force Field and strait TK are generally not as good I think. It can be hard to rate their relative strengths." She smiles for a moment, "AND, I can do this..." she has realized there are a number of different colored liquids, which she grabs into fine streams and paints a picture of Pixie and Gabby onto a blank wall with amazing speed. Pixie finds a place to lean, mostly being quiet as the test continues. Then she's PAINTED onto the wall. Giggling, she claps, very much impressed. Jean Grey nods, "It sounds like that you're more used to pushing things and using it to map your mind. And.. Uhm.. Gambit, do you want to tell Pixie about the Twinkee?" One of Hank's stash is flipped over to Gambit to use as explanation as Jean goes to watch. "Interesting. A lot of psionic users innately use it to amplify their physical abilities. I think because it's very simple to visualize and so to control." Once his hands are free of the boxes, Remy beams, "Merci, Cher." Then there's a Twinkie flying in his direction that he snatches out of the air. "Dis?" he asks of Gabby. "Dis a snack cake wit a shelf life longer den Logan been alive." He lowers his voice to a stage whisper as to not to offend Hank, "Dey disgustin', Cher, don' let Blue tell ya differen'." He offers a flourish of a bow to all and sundry and adds, "Well, dat about as long as Gambit can stand bein' in dis place when he fit as a fiddle, so I'll just be takin' m'leave now." Gabby lifts her eyebrows as the strange spongy cake in a wrapper is presented and she's informed about it's shelf life. "Ew. Logan's super old," she responds with her tongue sticking out at that. The cake is taken from Remy though to stare at it even as she nods to his whisper about them being disgusting. "Right," gross. ... ... But it's not like it'd kill her to try one, right? At least that's her thought as Remy slips off, and she's now left holding a Twinkie and a rolled up ball of tinfoil in her opposite hand. "So, uh... Hi Linda, Jean, Pixie, Hank." Hank quickly puts away the the rest of what is in the boxes, then pauses to examine the painting. He calls after Gambit, "Philistine! The combination of golden sponge cake and creamy frosting is perfect for a sophisticated pallet." He says to Jean, "That was a remarkable display of liquid apportation. She placed each different color and consistency of liquid with a control as fine as her eyes could properly distinguish at the given range. It seems the limit on how finely she can move things is based solely on optical perception." He indicates a vertical pressure place, "Let us attempt a strike test, since you claim to be better at that than lifting." Linda focuses her mind and lashes out, slamming forcefully into the plate. Hank checks a readout, "Mmmm, it appears you were correct, you do hit harder than your lifting would indicate. Colossus could possibly strike the plate that hard..." Jean Grey nods thoughtfully over, "Linda, what sorts of things do you do to work out? Do you find you've improved yourself more by physical activity or mental? Forgive me, I'm trying to calculate how much of your abilities are based upon psionics when it comes to improving yourself and if I can suggest ways to train based off that." She taps her chin in thought. "Any sort of suggestions, Pixie?" Jean Grey also grins down at Gabby, "Sorry Gabriella, school full of telepaths an a lot of students have tried that. it doesn't work." Pixie folds her hands together and hums. "What are good ways to train a student? Well, self defense is always a good place to start, no matter what your future holds." "Huh?" Gabby looks down to the tinfoil ball with a soft 'oh' of realization. "Yeah I figured that was probably bullshit, but I was bored and wanted to see how round and shiny I could get it." Never mind her room full of failed attempts and the severe lack of tinfoil now in the kitchen. Looking up again she tips her head a bit glancing among those that were currently trying to figure out how to train Linda. The tinfoil ball is stuffed into a pocket, and she idly begins to unwrap the Twinkie without thinking about it. "You've already figured out her output strength and handling strength, and she's displayed her manual dexterity with it as well with the painting. What about working out how quickly she can juggle changing from strength to dexterity, and how she is at multi-tasking with both?" It's offered before she chomps into the Twinkie. "I mean-" she mumbles around the mouthful, "S'what they'd do at the labs I was raised in and this is really good actually." Hank says to Pixie, "Her defenses are on the list. Her mental ones I mean, her physical ones we tested already. It would take a high powered armor piercing bullet to significantly damage her integument, though she does have weaker points. It took me a diamond tipped drill to get a spinal tap on her, for example. Her reflexes are extremely quick, she can catch a bullet without harm to herself for example." He adds to Gabby, "I do have speed tests on the agenda for how quickly she can manipulate objects and how fast she can switch between using various aspects of telekinesis. I also have to test whether she can do multiple aspects at once. We tested her flight speed and maneuvering ability prior to your entry." Jean Grey nods thoughtfully, "It sounds like her durability is about on par with Rogue. Uhm, what Rogue used to be." The exact state of the southern gal's powers as always seems to be in flux, at least what she can remember. "And.. Do I really want to know why you're including 'drilling' in the lists of tests you're running Hank or is this something I really don't want to know about?" she nods to Gabby. "Excellent idea Gabriella." She considers, nodding to Pixie. "It's always good. It teaches you focus. NO matter where you go in life, a basic sense of discipline from just basic lessons helps." Linda is tested on how fast she can stack and unstack cups with her mind, then is tested to see how strong her force field is. The Force Field is strong enough to slow or deflect a bullet, though not stop it completely (but it might not penetrate if it hits a normal person). Hank replies, "I simply am testing various bodily fluids and tissues to see what I can learn about her biology." Gabby takes another bite of Twinkie as she watches, and listens. "This is why I didn't want to visit him when you were all wanting me to," she points out with a knowing nod regarding the talk of biology, and samples. Pixie smiles. "Anything else I can do to help with the tests?" she'll ask Hank. "Otherwise I can get out of your hair." Jean Grey shakes her head, "You're not getting in the way." A thought strikes her. "Actually, you might be able to help us try something. Can you teleport some of the cups out to the hallway? I'd like to if Linda is willing see how well she handles working with things outside of her line of sight if you think that might be a good idea Hank" She considers to Gabby. "And what do you think about Twinkies?" Her lips twitch upwards at Gabby's comment. Gabby runs her tongue over her lips before licking her fingers clean of any further creamy gooey filling. "Mm. It doesn't taste as old as Logan so that's a start. I could probably bake something better though... but I can see how they'd be addicting." It is soon determined that Linda can only move things she can see or that she can feel. She can move something touching her that is out of sight, such as a rope tying her hands together, but can not move the air (which she can not see) nor anything else that is out of her sight. She also can fly while using her other telekinetic abilities, but can otherwise use only one of her telekinetic abilities at a time. She can rapidly switch between abilities, such as slowing bullets down with her force field then grabbing them with her telekinesis. The exception on moving things she can not see is her force field, it can act to keep in a bubble of air, or to mitigate sound waves. She can, for example, hold a bubble of air to let her breathe in space or under water...or fly without creating sonic booms at Mach two. Jean Grey laughs, "Well, why don't you do that sometime? I'm sure you can get yourself free reign in the kitchen if you feel like doing some cooking." She offers and continues to watch as they do further experiments with Linda. "Your ability to slow things down is probably best for helping to prevent collateral damage." Pixie giggles and goes for it, teleporting cups. Yay she's helping! Gabby considers it with a shrug. "I dunno, I made a lot of cake the last time I was cooking." Back when she had been left here while the rest of the Wolver-clan went out camping for way, way too long without her. Eventually the testing is finished...or is it? Hank frowns and says, "Megan, would you please join us. I wanted to see something. Jean, could you please place the globular neural scanner on Megan. There is something I wish to examine to see if my memory is accurate." Pixie goes wide-eyed after she thought her bit was done, but then Hank wants more. Biting her lip, she scoots on over. "Alright..." she says softly, watching him. "This isn't a problem is it?" Jean Grey just looks at Hank, "Do I want to know what you're going to do?" She lets out a sigh then and takes her hand out to rest it on Pixie's shoulder reassuringly. "How much cake -did- you make Gabriella?" Gabby watches Hank and Megan curiously as the testing switches from Linda to her. There's a slight shift of her weight as if she might make for the door just in case attention turns her way after. She'd been avoiding tests for as long as she could while here. The question from Jean causes her to pause. "Just ten," she offers defensively as if that were a perfectly good number. "Not counting the three I messed up at first. Those went into the trash." Hank adjusts the device on the mutant girl's head then says, "Pixie, please teleport, then return. I need a reading for comparison." Pixie bites her lip and looks at Hank. "It won't break this will it?" She'll then put her hand on it, adjusting the scanner, then she mutters quietly. In a quick flash of pink, she teleports to her room. Then after a moment, she's exactly where she was standing before, more or less. Jean Grey just watches.. And instinctively goes to move behind the counter and is ready to duck down ehind it and use it as a shield. She also moves to ready to yank Gabriella after her as a.. Precautionary measure. She knows how Hank testing things normally goes. Gabby inches back when Jean does as well. She wasn't exactly afraid of tests, or danger, but that didn't mean she had to walk into it. Usually. Hank plugs the helmet back in and checks a few things before asking Linda, "How long as it been since you last teleported." Linda answers blankly, clearly surprised Hank was able to realize she had been able to do so, "Almost four years, I lost that ability when the Angel left me." Jean Grey nods, "I.. Understand what it's like to have something taken away or lose it, as far as powers goes. But we always have to move on." Pixie is kind of relieved when she realizes she's just a baseline, and goes back to lean on a wall. Hank responds, "I do not think it is exactly lost to her, but she would have to learn it again. It looks like it maps almost exactly the same as Megan's ability, in the part of the brain that handles what is commonly called 'magic', she might be able to learn..." Linda interrupts, "No! No magic, never again." That gets Jean's attention, and there's a look of concern, "Ah, why don't we go ahead and stop here? I think that Linda could use a break. Gabby, Linda, you want to head up to the kitchen and we can get some lunch?" Gabby hums and shakes her head. "I need to go check on Jonathan. He was taking a nap when I left... but I'll catch up later maybe," she offers as she scoots out the door. Pixie puts up her hand. "No magic. That's fine with me." She'll then nod to Jean and Hank, start making her way out. Not wanting to make her feel bad, all at once.